I finally got around to trying some of the brew you sent me. I've been slowly emptying my fridge to fit the kegs and there has finally been room to put more in! I tried your Grand Cru. It had an incredible ruby red color and had a nice crisp sparkle of carbonation. It was nice and malty, a little sweet and I could taste some spices. There was even what I think was a corriander seed in my bottle. I usually don't care too much for spiced beers, but this was great. They weren't overwhelming, just there in the background. How strong was that brew? It seemed to have a bit of alcohol to it, or maybe it was all the beer I drank while I was brewing... Anyways, a very nice beer, and different from any homebrew that I have made. The others are coming soon, I promise.

I also tried the Dog Fish Head 60 min IPA. Excellent. Hoppy, but smooth and very drinkable. I see why everyone raves about it. Now I just wish I could get a regular supply of it.

Good, I wasn't just seeing things (or just completely ). I just had the Imperial Hellfire. It's a nice amber color. I can see why the talk of modifying the recipe to adjust the color. Not quite red. It was sweeter than I expected, although I'm not the expert on some of the ingredients such as honey. What yeast did you use? I know that one of the ones suggested was fairly low attenuating. There was a strong taste of apples and some other fruit. Not in a bad way, just sweet and fruity. I'll have the amber tomorrow. Another review coming soon..

Ok, I'm either blind, illiterate, dumb, or constantly drunk, or some combination of all four because tonight I opened up what I thought was going to be your Amber, but was suprised to have it taste strong, hoppy, a little fruity and... very oaky! Looks like I found the Imperial Hellfire! Now that explains it all. When I was expecting IH last night, instead I drank the Amber. Now the sweetness and the "not so hoppy, spicy, or oaky" flavors make sense. I can now say that I did taste some apple in the Amber, and it still was great. I can now see what you mean by the oak in the Imperial Hellfire. It's definately there. It's not so much that it's too much, but it's not subtle.

Now that I have all of that straightened out, I'm going to drink myself to sleep in a corner somewhere.

That oak will mellow out over time. Though for brewsmith I'm guessing you only ha dthe one bottle.

BTW if you read my post on Bad yeast you'll know I had some batches with odd flavors due to a bad bulk yeast. Anyway, the batch that developed the soury wierdness had the yeast pitched on, you guessed it, 6/6/06. Seems I offended some sort of higher or lower power...

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I may not be an expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express........ 6 months ago.

That makes more sense. Unfortunately that was the last of those amber ales, so I cant do any further analysis. If and when I redo the Amber and Imperial Hellfire I plan to monkey with the recipes a bit.

Agreed. I've gone through several of the commercial ones now. The St. Arnold lawnmower is great. Although it's a kolsch, the aroma is like a hefeweizen, a little fruity, banana, but the flavor is american. Clean, a little tart, and not sweet. It lives up to it's name. I'd love to have a few while doing the lawn.

I also had the Independence Pale Ale. A good example of a Pale Ale. Unlike some that approach the IPA territory, this one would make a great session beer. Very balanced. A golden color and enough hops, flavor and aroma, to place it solidly in the APA catagory, but not so much that your palate is assaulted. If you're not a big hop head, this is a great APA for you.